Zocere Appoints Zavitz as Chief Scientific Officer

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--New Mexico-based pharmaceutical company, Zocere, Inc., has named Kenton H. Zavitz, Ph.D., as its chief scientific officer. Zocere is developing an injectable neuroprotectant drug designed to combat brain injury resulting from stroke and other head trauma such as concussion.

Zavitz has more than 15 years of biotechnology and pharmaceutical experience with involvement in all aspects of the industry, ranging from drug discovery and clinical development through pre-commercialization. Prior to joining Zocere as chief scientific officer, Zavitz worked with Myriad Genetics, Inc. and their subsidiary Myriad Pharmaceuticals, Inc., in Salt Lake City. Myriad was later spun out as an independent public company and renamed Myrexis, Inc.

During his career with Myriad/Myrexis, Zavitz served as senior director of Clinical Affairs, chief scientist of the tarenflurbil clinical development program (an investigational drug for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease), director of Neurodegeneration Therapeutics Discovery, director of Strategic In-licensing and Scientific Evaluation, and head of Drug Target Discovery and Validation. He has also worked on the development of new drug products addressing Alzheimer's disease, acute pain, HIV, oncology and inflammatory diseases.

Commenting on Zavitz's appointment, Zocere President and CEO Wayne Laslie said, "We are pleased to have an individual with Kenton's depth of experience in pre-clinical and clinical drug development join Zocere. His involvement will help us accelerate the development and commercialization of our STEP peptide-based neuroprotectant drug and others in our portfolio."

Zavitz earned a B.Sc. in Molecular Biology from the University of Toronto and a Ph.D. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from the Sloan-Kettering Division of the Weill Cornell Graduate School of Medical Sciences in New York City. He was a postdoctoral fellow at the UCLA School of Medicine and was awarded fellowships from the Leukemia Society of America and Jane Coffin Childs Memorial Fund for Medical Research.

About Zocere, Inc.

Headquartered in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Zocere is a startup pharmaceutical company developing injectable neuroprotectant drugs intended to combat stroke and other neurological trauma. Zocere is led by a team of seasoned pharmaceutical industry executives with extensive experience in drug commercialization. Visitwww.Zocere.com.

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